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He once faced a felony rap, but now it's beginning to look like "Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen may not stay in jail for much longer than the average package vacation.

Sheen, who was arrested in Aspen, Colo., on Christmas for allegedly threatening his wife at knifepoint, has cut a deal in which he'll plead no contest to third-degree assault and receive a 30-day sentence, according to TMZ. With time already served, Sheen could wind up spending just 17 more days in lockup.

The actor is due back Monday for a court hearing, after which he may begin serving his sentence immediately, according to TMZ, which did not cite any sources.

It could be an anticlimactic end to a case that at one point threatened Sheen's role on TV's No. 1 comedy. The actor recently reached a deal with Warner Bros., the studio that makes the show, to reprise his role as roguish bachelor Charlie Harper. Because his jail time would coincide with the summer production break on "Two and a Half Men," the show is unlikely to be affected.

CBS declined to comment Tuesday on the latest turn in the case, as did Warner Bros.

Sheen spokesman Stan Rosenfield also declined to comment on the jail-term report. "I hear the same rumors everyone else is hearing," he wrote in an e-mail. "When there is something to say, I will let you know."

"We are not confirming or denying anything," Aspen prosecutor Arnold Mordkin said in a brief phone call.

Laurie L. Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School, said that prosecutors appeared to be trying to find middle ground in this latest example of celebrity justice.

"They didn't sweep it under the carpet," she said of Sheen's presumed punishment. "But they didn't try to make an example of him, either."

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